WO2022024230A1

WO2022024230A1 - Relay system, relay control device, relay method, and relay control program

Info

Publication number: WO2022024230A1
Application number: PCT/JP2020/028936
Authority: WO
Inventors: 匡史岩渕; 智明小川; 友規村上; 陸大宮; 泰司鷹取
Original assignee: 日本電信電話株式会社
Priority date: 2020-07-28
Filing date: 2020-07-28
Publication date: 2022-02-03
Also published as: JPWO2022024230A1; US20230275622A1

Abstract

This relay system has: at least one radiation unit that forms a beam in a predetermined direction by a plurality of elements radiating respective radio waves; a detection unit for detecting a physical environment that is on a radio wave propagation path and that influences the beam formed by the radiation unit; a direction determination unit that determines a direction in which the radiation unit is to form a beam on the basis of the physical environment detected by the detection unit; a phase calculation unit that calculates respective phases of radio waves to be radiated by the plurality of elements such that the radiation unit forms a beam in the direction determined by the direction determination unit; and a phase control unit that controls the respective phases of radio waves to be radiated by the plurality of elements, on the basis of the phases calculated by the phase calculation unit.

Description

Relay system, relay control device, relay method, and relay control program

The present invention relates to a relay system, a relay control device, a relay method, and a relay control program.

Attention is being paid to utilizing high frequency bands that can secure a wide band in order to increase the speed and capacity of wireless access. For example, the 5th generation mobile communication system uses the 28 GHz band, and the wireless LAN standard IEEE802.11ad (millimeter wave wireless LAN system) uses the 60 GHz band to realize high-speed and large capacity.

Radio waves in the high frequency band are more easily attenuated than radio waves in the low frequency band, and have radio wave characteristics that are difficult to diffract. Therefore, when utilizing the high frequency band, there are problems that the transmission distance is short and the reception quality is greatly deteriorated due to shielding.

In order to compensate for the attenuation of radio waves, beamforming using a multi-element antenna is effective at the transmitting and receiving stations. That is, it is possible to compensate for the radio wave attenuation by the beamforming gain and extend the transmission distance.

In beamforming, both the transmitting and receiving stations strongly transmit and receive radio waves from a specific direction, so the receiving station mainly receives radio waves from one path with high power. As a result, in beamforming, the spatial multiplex is limited to 1 (or 2 due to polarization multiplex), and it is difficult to obtain the spatial diversity effect by receiving the same signal.

On the other hand, there is a method of installing a large number of antennas in order to improve the shielding and deterioration of reception quality outside the line of sight. For example, by installing a large number of transmitting antennas, it is possible to reduce the range of shielding and out-of-sight. Further, by installing many transmitting antennas, it is possible to solve the above-mentioned problems in beamforming.

However, installing a large number of transmitting antennas has the problem of increasing network costs and causing a shortage of installation locations. From the viewpoint of providing a large number of transmission points, it is also effective to utilize a reflector or the like, which is lower in cost and has a smaller installation scale and restrictions.

Conventionally, it was difficult to dynamically control the reflection characteristics. However, since it has become possible to develop a reflector (dynamic reflector) that can dynamically control the reflection characteristics using a metasurface or array element configuration, it is possible to use a dynamic reflector for shielding or a range outside the line of sight. It is possible to realize a method of obtaining spatial multiplexing and spatial diversity gain while reducing the size (see, for example, Non-Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3).

As a method of controlling the dynamic reflector, there is a method of changing the characteristics of the radio wave by controlling the phase of the radio wave when the dynamic reflector reflects the radio wave. For example, there is a method of changing the phase of radio waves reflected by a dynamic reflector composed of an array element based on channel information (CSI: Channel State Information) between transmitting and receiving stations (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 3). ..

However, in the conventional method based on the channel information between the transmitting and receiving stations, it is possible to optimize the characteristics of the receiving station, but the channel information for each array element through which the radio wave passes is required. For example, when the dynamic reflector is composed of 100 array elements, it is necessary to calculate the amount of phase change based on 100 different channel information.

In other words, a large overhead is incurred in order to acquire channel information. Further, since it is considered that a certain calculation resource is required to calculate the phase change amount of each array element, it is assumed that the phase change amount is calculated on the base station side. In this case, quality improvement by the dynamic reflector cannot be realized unless the base station has a new function.

Also, it is assumed that the base station and the dynamic reflector will be installed in separate locations. Therefore, in the conventional method, a communication means for reflecting the phase change amount calculated by the base station on the dynamic reflector is required, and the dynamic reflector also needs a function for cooperating with the base station. rice field.

In addition, when the dynamic reflector reflects radio waves, if cars or people who block the radio waves come and go on the radio wave propagation path, the dynamic reflector cannot efficiently relay the radio waves. was there.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is a relay system, a relay control device, and a relay method capable of efficiently relaying radio waves even if the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path changes. , And a relay control program.

The relay system according to one aspect of the present invention is a relay system that relays radio waves between one or more radio terminals and a base station, in which each of a plurality of elements radiates radio waves to form a beam in a predetermined direction. One or more radiation units, one or more detection units that detect the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path that affects the beam formed by the radiation unit, and the physical environment detected by the detection unit. Based on the above, the radiating section determines the direction in which the beam should be formed, and the plurality of elements radiate so that the radiating section forms the beam in the direction determined by the directional determination section. It is characterized by having a phase calculation unit for calculating the phase of radio waves to be power, and a phase control unit for controlling the phase of radio waves radiated by each of the plurality of the elements based on the phase calculated by the phase calculation unit.

Further, the relay control device according to one aspect of the present invention includes one or more radiation units that form a beam in a predetermined direction by radiating radio waves according to a set phase of each of the plurality of elements. In a relay control device that controls one or more relay devices that relay radio waves between a radio terminal and a base station, the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path that affects the beam formed by the radiation unit is detected. Based on the physical environment detected by one or more detectors, the radiating unit determines the direction in which the beam should be formed, and the radiating unit directs the beam in the direction determined by the radiating unit. It has a phase calculation unit that calculates the phase of radio waves to be radiated by each of the plurality of elements, and a transmission unit that transmits information indicating the phase calculated by the phase calculation unit to the relay device. It is a feature.

Further, the relay method according to one aspect of the present invention is a relay method for relaying radio waves between one or more radio terminals and a base station, in which each of a plurality of elements radiates radio waves to cause a beam in a predetermined direction. The radiation unit forms a beam based on the detection step of detecting the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path that affects the beam formed by one or more radiation units forming the beam and the detected physical environment. In the direction determination step of determining the direction to be radiated, the phase calculation step of calculating the phase of the radio wave to be radiated by each of the plurality of elements so that the radiation unit forms a beam in the determined direction, and the calculated phase. Based on this, it is characterized by including a phase control step of controlling the phase of radio waves radiated by each of the plurality of elements.

According to the present invention, radio waves can be efficiently relayed even if the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path changes.

It is a figure which shows the configuration example of the wireless communication system which includes the relay system which concerns on one Embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which illustrates the function which a relay system has. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of a relay system. It is a figure which shows the configuration example of the wireless communication system which includes the relay system which concerns on another embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which illustrates the function which a relay device has. It is a functional block diagram which illustrates the function which a relay control device has. It is a figure which shows the hardware configuration example of the relay control device which concerns on one Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the configuration example of the wireless communication system of the comparative example provided with the dynamic reflector.

In explaining the relay system according to the embodiment, first, the background leading to the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the wireless communication system 10 of the comparative example provided with the dynamic reflector.

In the wireless communication system 10, in order for the base station 11 and the wireless terminal 12 to perform wireless communication, a dynamic reflecting plate 13 provided with a plurality of reflecting elements reflects radio waves and relays them. At this time, the base station 11 acquires channel information (CSI: Channel State Information) for all of the plurality of reflecting elements included in the dynamic reflector 13 and adjusts the phase of the radio wave reflected by the dynamic reflector 13.

Therefore, in addition to the function as a general base station, the base station 11 has an advanced signal processing function for acquiring and processing channel information for all of a plurality of reflecting elements, and reflects on the dynamic reflector 13. There is a need for a function to notify information about the phase for changing the characteristics.

That is, the base station 11 has an increased overhead for acquiring channel information, and if the number of reflecting elements is large, the amount of calculation for dynamically controlling the phase of the radio wave reflected by the dynamic reflector 13 is enormous. turn into.

Next, a wireless communication system including a relay system according to an embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a wireless communication system 1 including a relay system according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication system 1 is configured such that, for example, one or more base stations 2 and one or more wireless terminals 3 perform wireless communication via a relay system 4.

The relay system 4 relays the signal transmitted by the base station 2 to each of the wireless terminals 3 by controlling a radiation unit (dynamic reflector or the like) provided with a plurality of elements (reflection element or the like), for example. The signal transmitted by each of the wireless terminals 3 is relayed to the base station 2. The wireless terminal 3 has a function of measuring (positioning) the position of its own station, and may transmit the measured position information indicating the position of its own station to the relay system 4.

The relay system 4 detects and analyzes the physical environment (including the degree of congestion and environmental changes) that affects radio waves such as cars and people moving on the radio wave propagation path, and uses the analysis results to analyze the index described later. Is calculated, the direction in which the emitting unit should form the beam is determined, and the phase of the radio wave to be emitted by each of the plurality of elements is calculated and dynamically controlled.

That is, the relay system 4 dynamically controls the radiation direction of radio waves without using channel information for all of a plurality of elements and without having an advanced signal processing function for processing channel information for all of the elements. can do. Here, the case where the relay system 4 dynamically controls the phase of the reflected radio wave will be described as an example, but the relay system 4 is equipped with a power amplifier and relays the radio wave by a repeater that forms a beam when the received radio wave is re-radiated. It may be configured as a device. Further, the relay system 4 may dynamically control the radiation direction (reflection direction or re-radiation direction) of the radio wave at an arbitrarily set timing.

Next, a specific example of the relay system 4 will be described. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating the functions of the relay system 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the relay system 4 has, for example, a relay unit 5 and a detection unit 6.

The relay unit 5 is a relay device that includes a radiation unit 50 that forms a beam and a relay control unit 52 that controls the radiation unit 50, and relays radio waves.

For example, the detection unit 6 detects the physical environment (vehicles, people, etc. that shield the radio waves) on the radio wave propagation path that affects the beam formed by the radiation unit 50 as environmental information, and the detection result is the relay control unit 52. It is a detection device that outputs to. For example, the detection unit 6 is a camera or the like that captures the surrounding environment, and detects image data as environment information.

Further, the detection unit 6 may be a radio wave sensor that receives radio waves and uses them as environmental information indicating the surrounding environment. In this case, the detection unit 6 detects, for example, the received power, the arrival time, the channel information, and the like of the received radio wave. The timing at which the detection unit 6 detects the environmental information and the timing at which the detection unit 6 outputs the environmental information to the relay control unit 52 may be arbitrarily set in advance.

More specifically, the radiation unit 50 is a dynamic reflector having a plurality of elements 500, for example, a plurality of elements 500 arranged in an array. The element 500 reflects the radio wave transmitted by the base station 2 and the radio wave transmitted by the wireless terminal 3 according to the control of the relay control unit 52. For example, the element 500 is a so-called metamaterial and has a property of shifting the phase when reflecting radio waves.

Further, the element 500 may be a repeater provided with a power amplifier and re-radiating received radio waves to form a beam. That is, the radiation unit 50 forms a beam in a predetermined direction by radiating radio waves from each of the plurality of elements 500.

The relay control unit 52 includes an analysis unit 520, a detection position estimation unit 521, an index calculation unit 522, a relay position estimation unit 523, a direction determination unit 524, a phase calculation unit 525, a phase control unit 526, and a plurality of phase conversion units 527. Have.

The analysis unit 520 analyzes the influence of the physical environment detected by the detection unit 6 on the radio wave (for example, the beam formed by the radiation unit 50), and outputs the analysis result to the index calculation unit 522.

For example, the analysis unit 520 analyzes the environmental information detected by the detection unit 6 and estimates the type, position, moving speed and direction of objects existing in the surroundings, and the frequency of appearance in the surroundings.

Specifically, when the environmental information is image data taken by a camera, the analysis unit 520 analyzes the image and determines an object (person, vehicle, etc.) included in the image. The analysis unit 520 also estimates the distance and position to the discriminated object from the image. Further, the analysis unit 520 estimates the moving speed and the moving direction of the object using a plurality of continuous images.

Further, when the environmental information is the information detected by the radio wave sensor, the analysis unit 520 determines the type, position, moving speed, moving direction, and moving direction of the object, for example, based on the relationship between the behavior of the radio wave learned in advance and the environment. Estimate the frequency of appearance.

The detection position estimation unit 521 estimates the position where the detection unit 6 detects the physical environment, and outputs the detection position information indicating the position where the detection unit 6 performs the detection to the index calculation unit 522. For example, the detection position estimation unit 521 has a sensor device (GPS, acceleration sensor, gyro sensor, magnetic force sensor, pressure sensor, etc.) and estimates the detection position information using the sensor device. Further, the detection position estimation unit 521 may periodically estimate the position of the detection unit 6 and update the detection position information.

Further, the detection position estimation unit 521 may estimate the position of the detection unit 6 when the detection unit 6 is installed, or information indicating the position of the detection unit 6 manually input by the operator (latitude, Longitude, height, and related information) may be used as detection position information.

The index calculation unit 522 calculates an index that can be used by the direction determination unit 524 to determine the direction by using the detection position information output by the detection position estimation unit 521 and the analysis result output by the analysis unit 520. The calculated index is output to the direction determination unit 524.

For example, the index calculation unit 522 uses the type, distance and position, movement speed, movement direction, and the like of surrounding objects estimated by the analysis unit 520 to determine the direction in which the radiation unit 50 reflects (or re-radiates) the beam. Calculate the indicators available for the directional determination unit 524 to determine.

The index calculated by the index calculation unit 522 is, for example, the density of the object estimated by the analysis unit 520. For example, the index calculation unit 522 may estimate the number of objects existing in a predetermined area and calculate the density based on the position of the object estimated by the analysis unit 520.

Further, the index calculation unit 522 may use the time that the object stays in a predetermined area as an index, calculates the average stay time of the object for each area, and calculates the product of the appearance frequency of the object and the average stay time. It may be used as an index. Then, the index calculation unit 522 may calculate and list the index for each area, and output the result of listing by giving priority to the area having the highest index value to the direction determination unit 524.

The relay position estimation unit 523 estimates the position where the relay unit 5 relays the radio wave, and outputs the relay position information indicating the position where the relay unit 5 relays the radio wave to the direction determination unit 524. For example, the relay position estimation unit 523 has a sensor device (GPS, acceleration sensor, gyro sensor, magnetic force sensor, pressure sensor, etc.) and estimates relay position information using the sensor device. Further, the relay position estimation unit 523 may periodically estimate the position of the relay unit 5 and update the relay position information.

Further, the relay position estimation unit 523 may estimate the position of the relay unit 5 when the relay unit 5 is installed, or information indicating the position of the relay unit 5 manually input by the operator (latitude, Longitude, height, and related information) may be used as relay position information.

When the relay unit 5 and the detection unit 6 are integrally configured, it is assumed that the relay position information and the above-mentioned detection position information have the same value, and the relay position estimation unit 523 or the detection position estimation unit 521 Either may not be provided.

The direction determination unit 524 determines the direction (reflection or re-radiation) in which the radiation unit 50 should form a beam based on the relay position information output by the relay position estimation unit 523 and the index (for example, a list) calculated by the index calculation unit 522. The direction to be used) is determined, and the direction information indicating the determined direction is output to the phase calculation unit 525.

For example, when the index calculated by the index calculation unit 522 is the density, the direction determination unit 524 determines the direction of the area with the high density as the direction of reflection or re-radiation. Further, the direction determination unit 524 may determine the direction toward the center of the area, or may determine the direction toward the center of gravity of the object position at a certain moment in the area.

Further, when the index calculated by the index calculation unit 522 is the product of the stay time or appearance frequency of the object and the average stay time, the direction determination unit 524 sets, for example, the area having the maximum value as the area with the highest priority. Similarly, determine the direction toward the area.

The phase calculation unit 525 calculates the phase of the radio wave to be radiated by each of the plurality of elements 500 so that the radiation unit 50 forms a beam in the direction determined by the direction determination unit 524, and the phase information indicating the calculated phase is obtained. Output to the phase control unit 526.

For example, the phase calculation unit 525 calculates the phase amount to be controlled by the phase control unit 526 using the direction determined by the direction determination unit 524 and the direction toward the base station 2. At this time, the phase calculation unit 525 uses the preset position information (latitude, longitude, height) of the base station 2 and the relay position information estimated by the relay position estimation unit 523 to the base station 2. You may estimate the direction.

Further, when the detection unit 6 is a camera and the surrounding environment is photographed, the phase calculation unit 525 includes the position information of the base station 2 estimated by the analysis unit 520 using the image data as the environment information and the above-mentioned. The direction from the relay unit 5 to the base station 2 may be estimated by using the detected detection position information and the relay position information.

Further, when one radiation unit 50 radiates using radio waves transmitted from a plurality of radio terminals 3, the phase calculation unit 525 divides the plurality of elements 500 into a plurality of element groups, and different radio waves are provided for each element group. The phase of the radio wave radiated by each of the elements 500 may be calculated so as to radiate the radio wave toward the terminal 3.

For example, when the relay unit 5 having N elements 500 simultaneously reflects (or re-radiates) radio waves toward four high-priority areas, the area using N / 4 elements 500 for each area. The phase of the radio wave may be calculated so as to radiate the radio wave in each direction. In this case, the relay unit 5 can improve the communication quality of the plurality of areas at the same time, although the gain after the radiation of the radio wave is reduced.

The phase control unit 526 controls the phase of the radio wave radiated by each of the plurality of elements 500 by controlling each of the plurality of phase conversion units 527 based on the phase information calculated by the phase calculation unit 525. The phase conversion unit 527 is provided individually for each element 500, for example, and performs conversion that changes the phase of the radio wave radiated by the element 500 according to the control from the phase control unit 526.

For example, the phase control unit 526 controls each of the plurality of phase conversion units 527 so that the phase of the radio wave reflected by each of the plurality of elements 500 is slightly shifted based on the phase calculated by the phase calculation unit 525. For example, when the element 500 is the above-mentioned metamaterial, the phase conversion unit 527 dynamically changes the phase shift amount by the element 500 by changing the characteristics of the element 500 according to the control of the phase control unit 526. .. In this way, the phase control unit 526 controls the radiation unit 50 to perform beamforming in a predetermined direction by changing the characteristics of the metamaterial, multiplying the amount of the phase change, or imparting a predetermined delay.

When the controllable phase amount with respect to the element 500 is discrete, the phase control unit 526 selects the phase amount closest to the phase (phase change amount) calculated by the phase calculation unit 525 from the configurable phase amounts. Then, each of the plurality of phase conversion units 527 is controlled.

Next, an operation example of the relay system 4 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the relay system 4. As shown in FIG. 3, in the relay system 4, the detection unit 6 first detects the surrounding physical environment as environmental information (S100).

Then, in the relay system 4, the analysis unit 520 analyzes the environmental information (S102), and the detection position estimation unit 521 estimates the detection position of the detection unit 6 (S104).

The index calculation unit 522 calculates an index that can be used by the direction determination unit 524 to determine the direction by using the result analyzed by the analysis unit 520 and the detection position estimated by the detection position estimation unit 521 (S106). ).

Further, when the relay position estimation unit 523 estimates the relay position where the relay unit 5 relays the radio wave (S108), the direction determination unit 524 calculates the relay position information estimated by the relay position estimation unit 523 and the index calculation unit 522. The radiation direction in which the radiation unit 50 emits the beam is determined based on the index (S110).

The phase calculation unit 525 calculates the phase of the radio wave to be radiated by each of the plurality of elements 500 so that the radiation unit 50 radiates the beam in the direction determined by the direction determination unit 524 (S112).

Then, the phase control unit 526 controls the phase of the radio wave radiated by each of the plurality of elements 500 by controlling the plurality of phase conversion units 527 based on the phase calculated by the phase calculation unit 525 (S114). ..

In this way, in the relay system 4, the phase calculation unit 525 calculates the phase of the radio wave to be radiated by each of the plurality of elements 500 based on the physical environment detected by the detection unit 6, and each of the plurality of elements 500 calculates the phase. Since the phase control unit 526 controls the phase of the radiated radio wave, the radio wave can be efficiently relayed even if the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path changes. Further, since the relay system 4 controls the phase of the radio wave radiated by each of the elements 500 when the radio wave arrives, it is possible to expand the coverage by the base station 2.

Next, a wireless communication system including a relay system according to another embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a wireless communication system 1a including a relay system according to another embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, the wireless communication system 1a is configured such that, for example, a base station 2 and a wireless terminal 3 perform wireless communication via a relay system 4a.

The relay system 4a has, for example, two detection devices 7-1 and 7-2, two relay devices 8-1, 8-2, and a relay control device 9. Hereinafter, when any one of a plurality of configurations such as the detection devices 7-1 and 7-2 is not specified, it is simply abbreviated as the detection device 7 and the like.

Similar to the detection unit 6 described above, the detection device 7 has a function of detecting a physical environment (such as a vehicle or a person who shields radio waves) on a radio wave propagation path that affects radio waves as environmental information, and a detected environment. It has a function of transmitting information to the relay control device 9. For example, the detection device 7 is a camera or the like that captures the surrounding environment, detects image data as environment information, and transmits the image data to the relay control device 9. Further, the detection device 7 may be a radio wave sensor that receives radio waves and uses them as environmental information indicating the surrounding environment.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating the functions of the relay device 8. As shown in FIG. 5, the relay device 8 includes a radiation unit 50 that forms a beam and a control unit 52a that controls the radiation unit 50, and relays radio waves. In the functional block of the relay device 8 shown in FIG. 5, the functional blocks substantially the same as the functional block of the relay unit 5 shown in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The control unit 52a has a reception unit 528, a phase control unit 526, and a plurality of phase conversion units 527. The receiving unit 528 receives the information transmitted by the relay control device 9 and outputs it to the phase control unit 526.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram illustrating the functions of the relay control device 9. As shown in FIG. 6, the relay control device 9 includes, for example, a reception unit 90, an analysis unit 520, a detection position estimation unit 521, an index calculation unit 522, a relay position estimation unit 523, a direction determination unit 524, a phase calculation unit 525, and a phase calculation unit 525. It has a transmitter 92. In the functional block of the relay control device 9 shown in FIG. 6, the functional blocks substantially the same as the functional block of the relay unit 5 shown in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The receiving unit 90 receives the environmental information transmitted by each detection device 7 and outputs it to the analysis unit 520. The transmission unit 92 transmits the phase (phase amount) of the radio wave calculated by the phase calculation unit 525 to the relay device 8 corresponding to each of the detection devices 7.

That is, the wireless communication system 1a can reflect or re-radiate radio waves in the same manner as the above-mentioned wireless communication system 1 to enable wireless communication between the base station 2 and the wireless terminal 3. The relay device 8 may be arranged near the corresponding detection device 7, or may be associated with the detection device 7 arranged at a distant position.

Further, the relay control device 9 can cover, for example, an area where the relay devices 8-1 and 8-2 are the same (or a part thereof is common), and there are a plurality of areas having relatively high index values, or relay. When the areas having the highest priority of the devices 8-1 and 8-2 overlap each other, the relay device 8 having the shortest distance to the areas may be controlled to relay the radio waves.

Further, the relay control device 9 controls so that the reflection (re-radiation) direction of the relay device 8 having the shortest distance to the area is assigned to the area, and the other relay device 8 is assigned to the area having the next highest priority. You may. Further, the relay control device 9 may repeat the same process even when the areas having the next highest priority overlap. Further, the relay control device 9 may perform the above processing when the upper limit of the number of relay devices 8 that allow duplication is set in advance and the number of relay devices 8 exceeds the upper limit.

The function of the relay control device 9 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. For example, the relay control device 9 may not have all the functions of the analysis unit 520, the detection position estimation unit 521, the index calculation unit 522, the relay position estimation unit 523, the direction determination unit 524, and the phase calculation unit 525. .. Further, each function of the relay control device 9 may be divided into a plurality of devices. Further, the method in which the relay control device 9 communicates with the detection device 7 and the relay device 8 may be wired communication or wireless communication, respectively.

Further, each function of the relay control device 9 may be partially or wholly configured by hardware such as PLD (Programmable Logic Device) or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or may be executed by a processor such as a CPU. It may be configured as a program to be processed.

For example, the relay control device 9 according to the present invention can be realized by using a computer and a program, and the program can be recorded on a storage medium or provided through a network.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration example of the relay control device 9 according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, for example, the relay control device 9 has an input unit 900, an output unit 910, a communication unit 920, a CPU 930, a memory 940, and an HDD 950 connected via a bus 960, and has a function as a computer. Further, the relay control device 9 is configured to be able to input / output data to / from a computer-readable storage medium 970.

The input unit 900 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, or the like. The output unit 910 is a display device such as a display. The communication unit 920 is a wired or wireless network interface.

As described above, the CPU 930 controls each part constituting the relay control device 9 and performs predetermined processing and the like. The memory 940 and the HDD 950 are storage units for storing data and the like.

The storage medium 970 is capable of storing a program or the like for executing the function of the relay control device 9. The architecture constituting the relay control device 9 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 7.

The term "computer" here includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices. Further, the "computer-readable storage medium" refers to a storage device such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a portable medium such as a CD-ROM, or the like.

Further, a "computer-readable storage medium" is a communication line for transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line, and dynamically holds the program for a short period of time. It may include a program or a program that holds a program for a certain period of time, such as a volatile memory inside a computer that is a server or a client in that case.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, it is clear that the above-described embodiments are merely examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. be. Therefore, components may be added, omitted, replaced, or otherwise modified without departing from the technical idea and scope of the present invention.

1,1a ... wireless communication system, 2 ... base station, 3 ... wireless terminal, 4,4a ... relay system, 5 ... relay unit, 6 ... detection unit, 7-1 , 7-2 ... Detection device, 8-1, 8-2 ... Relay device, 9 ... Relay control device, 50 ... Radiation unit, 52 ... Relay control unit, 52a ... Control unit, 90 ... receiver unit, 92 ... transmission unit, 500 ... element, 520 ... analysis unit, 521 ... detection position estimation unit, 522 ... index calculation unit, 523 ... -Relay position estimation unit, 524 ... Direction determination unit, 525 ... Phase calculation unit, 526 ... Phase control unit, 527 ... Phase conversion unit, 528 ... Reception unit, 900 ... Input Unit, 910 ... Output unit, 920 ... Communication unit, 930 ... CPU, 940 ... Memory, 950 ... HDD, 960 ... Bus, 970 ... Storage medium

Claims

In a relay system that relays radio waves between one or more wireless terminals and a base station
One or more radiating parts that form a beam in a predetermined direction by radiating radio waves from each of the plurality of elements.
One or more detectors that detect the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path that affects the beam formed by the radiator.
A directional determination unit that determines the direction in which the radiation unit should form a beam based on the physical environment detected by the detection unit.
A phase calculation unit that calculates the phase of radio waves to be radiated by each of the plurality of elements so that the radiation unit forms a beam in the direction determined by the direction determination unit.
A relay system characterized by having a phase control unit that controls the phase of radio waves radiated by each of the plurality of elements based on the phase calculated by the phase calculation unit.
An analysis unit that analyzes the effect of the physical environment detected by the detection unit on the beam,
It further has an index calculation unit that calculates an index that can be used by the direction determination unit to determine a direction by using the result analyzed by the analysis unit.
The direction determination unit is
The relay system according to claim 1, wherein the radiation unit determines a direction in which a beam should be formed based on an index calculated by the index calculation unit.
The phase calculation unit is
When one radiation unit radiates using radio waves transmitted from a plurality of wireless terminals, the plurality of the elements are divided into a plurality of element groups, and the radio waves are radiated toward different radio terminals for each element group. The relay system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the phase of the radio wave radiated by each of the elements is calculated.
1 In a relay control device that controls one or more relay devices,
The direction in which the radiation unit should form a beam based on the physical environment detected by one or more detectors that detect the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path that affects the beam formed by the radiation unit. The direction determination part that determines
A phase calculation unit that calculates the phase of radio waves to be radiated by each of the plurality of elements so that the radiation unit forms a beam in the direction determined by the direction determination unit.
A relay control device including a transmission unit that transmits information indicating a phase calculated by the phase calculation unit to the relay device.
An analysis unit that analyzes the effect of the physical environment detected by the detection device on the beam, and
It further has an index calculation unit that calculates an index that can be used by the direction determination unit to determine a direction by using the result analyzed by the analysis unit.
The direction determination unit is
The relay control device according to claim 4, wherein the radiation unit determines a direction in which a beam should be formed based on an index calculated by the index calculation unit.
The phase calculation unit is
When one radiation unit radiates using radio waves transmitted from a plurality of wireless terminals, the plurality of the elements are divided into a plurality of element groups, and the radio waves are radiated toward different radio terminals for each element group. The relay control device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the phase of the radio wave radiated by each of the elements is calculated.
In a relay method for relaying radio waves between one or more wireless terminals and a base station,
A detection step that detects the physical environment on the radio wave propagation path that affects the beam formed by one or more radiating parts that form a beam in a predetermined direction by radiating radio waves from each of the plurality of elements.
A direction determination step of determining the direction in which the radiation unit should form a beam based on the detected physical environment, and
A phase calculation step of calculating the phase of radio waves to be radiated by each of the plurality of elements so that the radiation unit forms a beam in a determined direction.
A relay method comprising a phase control step of controlling the phase of radio waves radiated by each of the plurality of elements based on the calculated phase.
A relay control program for operating a computer as each part of the relay control device according to any one of claims 4 to 6.